Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia could raise the issue of the scrapping of a new arms reduction treaty should the United States create an "imbalance," but hopes this will not happen.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Medvedev said Russia and the U.S. agreed on a "formula" in the preambles of the treaty which says that "there is an interconnection between the strategic offensive arms and missile defense."
"So if those circumstances change, this could be considered as something that would jeopardize the whole agreement," Medvedev said. "But I hope that nothing like that will happen."
The new strategic arms reduction treaty was signed by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Prague last week. The treaty still has to be ratified by the Russian parliament and the U.S. Congress.
The two countries, which possess about 90% of global arsenals of nuclear weapons, agreed to reduce the number of nuclear warheads to 1,550 on each side and the number of deployed and non-deployed delivery vehicles to 800 on each side.
At talks with Obama in Prague, Medvedev stressed that Russia and the United States should introduce the arms reduction treaty for ratification simultaneously "so that neither country feels disadvantaged."
MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti)
